Schools develop 'newcomer' programs, English help for teens crossing US border aloneThe Associated Press via NewserAmerican schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months. Unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state, Federal data indicate, to live with a relative and await immigration decisions. The Supreme Court has ruled that schools have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, so schools have become a safe haven for many of the tens of thousands of these young people mostly from Central America living in limbo.

Common Core can help English learners in California, new study saysThe Hechinger ReportThe rigorous new Common Core standards represent both a daunting challenge and a promising pathway that could help close the achievement gap for the growing number of American students who enter school knowing little or no English. So concludes a new yearlong study released today by the California-based arm of Education Trust, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group that has repeatedly voiced concern that the new national standards might prove to be an additional burden for students whose native language is not English, particularly those who come from low-income families.

Could bilingual education mold kids' brains to better resist distraction?MindShift For decades, psychologists cautioned against raising children bilingual. They warned parents and teachers that learning a second language as a child was bad for brain development. But recent studies have found exactly the opposite. Researchers now believe that when people learn another language, they develop cognitive advantages that improve their attention, self-control and ability to deal with conflicting information. Today the benefits of bilingualism are being put to the test in schools all across Utah.

New TESOL Certificate: Advanced PractitionerTESOLTake your career to the next level; sharpen your skills in syllabus design, lesson planning, and teaching; and contribute to the field by presenting or publishing. The TESOL Certificate: Advanced Practitioner program is designed to help you achieve all these goals while receiving ongoing support from an expert mentor. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Low introductory pricing available through 1 November. Apply today!

LAS Links Assessments Go OnlineIdentify the needs of your English Language Learners with an automated, time-saving assessment tool in speaking, listening, and reading. LAS Links Online™ is designed to strengthen your English Language Development Program and provides research-based results to support your instructional decisions. Visit CTB.com/LASLinksOnlineDemos for an in-depth look at LAS Links Online.

TESOL Awards & Grants: Apply TodayTESOLTESOL is accepting applications/nominations for several different awards and grants. Funding for TESOL 2015 in Toronto, Canada is available. Applications must be received by 1 November 2014.

School spending decisions: Are you getting the best value for dollars spent?District Administration Magazine Student achievement, teacher quality, school safety, 21st century teaching and learning — these are but a glimpse into the areas of need each administrator must consider when making school spending decisions. Add to each of these spending decisions the impact of student productivity, and your efficiency and financial anxiety might increase. As the 2014-2015 school year heads into full swing, are you left wondering how to spend your tight budget on the right things?

Tilles: Some students being set up to failNewsdayUnder the federal No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top reform programs, English language learners in New York are required to take the state English language arts test as soon as they have been enrolled for a year and a day. Most educators believe the timeline is one to two years premature for students to be proficient enough to pass the exam. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Education also mandates that special education students take the state English language arts and math tests at their age levels — regardless of the levels at which they are being taught.

Sherman, Texas, ISD sees substantial increase of English language learnersKXII-TVThe Sherman Independent School District in Texas is looking toward the future of expanding its English language learning programs after a substantial growth in its number of English language learners. During the past seven years, Sherman ISD has had a more than 50 percent increase in its number of English language learners, according to Lauren Dill, the Coordinator of Bilingual and ESL for Sherman ISD. "We currently have a 1,501 students in the district who qualify as English language learners," Dill said. In 2007, that same number was at roughly 900 students.

Want to be rated 'highly effective' in New York? Don't teach English or math in grades 4-8The Hechinger ReportEnglish and math teachers in grades 4-8 in New York are much less effective in promoting student growth on state assessments (or comparable measures) than other teachers in the Empire State. Does that sound plausible? That teachers of particular subjects in particular grades are just not as good at promoting student learning? Perhaps not. But it's the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the scores awarded to New York teachers as part of the 2012-2013 Annual Professional Performance Review. New York's state education law, passed in 2010 and amended in 2012, provides for teachers to be classified as "highly effective," "effective," "developing" or "ineffective" based on their score on a 100-point scale.

At Jydstrup Elementary, students speak 37 languages — And learn a lesson in diversityLas Vegas SunThe children gather on a rug in Mrs. O'Brien's kindergarten classroom, ready for the morning routine. "All right, can you show me sitting down crisscross applesauce style?" Kara O'Brien asks in a sing-songy voice. She plays a medley of songs for 5- and 6-year-olds. "Give them your right hand/Look them in the eye/Put a smile on your face/Then you say, 'Hi!'" The kids giggle and act out the words, shaking each other's hand. Next comes a disco-tuned ABC song, then a song encouraging them to wiggle and shake. Every song has a purpose. O'Brien and other Jydstrup Elementary School teachers have kids in their classrooms from Ethiopia to Ukraine to Brazil, each with a varying grasp on the English language. This is more than just a morning routine — it's a way to help the students learn English and respect students from different cultures.

Language learning by the numbers — And how you can come out on topUSA TodayCollege course catalogues can be overwhelming. There are so many concepts to learn, so many worlds to explore, and so many professors to befriend, yet so little time to do it all. It's no wonder, then, that learning a language sometimes sinks to the bottom of our list of priorities. But it shouldn't. Learning a language can advance our careers, our personal lives, our cognition, and our potential to make a positive impact on the world.

CAL Institutes provide research-based strategies and practical, hands-on tools to help educators develop effective classroom activities on a variety of key topics, including meeting the demands of the Common Core State Standards.

Seattle Pacific University’s MA in TESOL program prepares you to cross cultural borders and engage students from around the world. Whether you intend to teach in colleges, universities, or one of the various language institutes throughout the United States and abroad, SPU’s program gives you the preparation you need. MORE.

ETS is the leader in global English language assessment, developing and administering more than 6.2 million TOEFL® and TOEIC ® tests annually. The TOEFL ® test measures the ability to communicate English in academic settings. More info

Efforts underway to help non-English speakers learn the languageKLAS-TVMore people than ever, who call Las Vegas home, barely speak English, according to a Brookings Institute report. The report ranks Las Vegas the 16th highest in the nation for the number of working-age adults with limited English skills. The Clark County School District is working to change that. English is much more than just a language, which is what Jackie Ramos, the director of Join America, teaches people who speak English as a second language.

New linguistic tools can predict your dialect characteristicsLinguistic Society of America via Science DailyA new linguistic study may make it possible to more accurately predict the dialect features people use based on their demographic characteristics and where they live. In a new article, researchers used statistical modeling techniques to predict whether speakers in Tuscany use words from standard Italian or words unique to local dialects.

Study: Deeper learning approach shows positive student gainsTHE Journal The idea that students need to develop a deeper understanding of content and the ability to apply what they learn in one area to another area are major premises of new learning standards, such as the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. A new study now shows that schools promoting the practices of what's called "deeper learning" are getting better results from their students. For example, those students are more likely to graduate on time, are more likely to attend four-year colleges and achieve higher test scores.

An hour of after-school exercise linked to better cognitive functioningMedical News Today A new study finds that at least 60 minutes of physical activity after school every day is not only beneficial for children's physical health, but it may also improve their cognitive functioning. The research team, led by Prof. Charles Hillman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, publish their findings in the journal Pediatrics. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that children and adolescents aged 6-17 years engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. But last year, a survey of high school students found that only 29 percent had met this recommendation within the last 7 days.

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TESOL English Language Bulletin is a digest of the most important news selected for TESOL International Association from thousands of sources by the editors of MultiBriefs, an independent organization that also manages and sells advertising. TESOL International Association does not endorse any of the advertised products and services. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author and not of TESOL.